For My One and Only
by Sakuya Masaki
Summary: An very poetic Nobuyuki describes his feeling for his deceased wife Achika. I wrote this story more dedicated to Nobiyuki than Achika. I wanted it to show that he's more than just a drity old man. He's a loving father and husband.


For My One and Only  
A Tenchi Muyo! fanfic  
Written by   
Heather McNully AKA Sakuya Masaki  
  
Disclaimer: Tenchi Muyo! and all its characters are property of AIC and Pioneer.  
  
I remember seeing you for the first time.   
Your silky black hair shone in the sunlight. Your skin was so soft and fair.   
And your eyes...   
I can't even begin to describe eyes like yours. There just hasn't been a word invented that could do justice describing your eyes. I have to settle for calling them beautiful. It's just not enough for you. You deserve a better adjective. Someday I'll invent one just for you. Your body wasn't too bad either. You had some amazing breasts. I wish I could apologize for things like that, but I can't. I was a silly high school boy.  
From that moment on, I couldn't take my eyes off you. You were an amazing creature, something out of a fairy tale that was far beyond my grasp. To my surprise, that day, you saw me: dorky, four-eyed Nobuyuki.   
And you smiled.   
That smile...   
How could anybody who met you forget that smile? Something else about you that just couldn't be described. It just had to be seen to be believed.  
That smile...  
"Nobuyuki, right?" You said to me the next day when you came up to me at lunch.  
"Uhhh... umm... yeah..."  
"My name's Achika." I knew that already. "It's very nice to meet you." Another smile.  
I don't remember much after that second smile. Not that I forgot or wasn't paying attention. I just got lost in you. That conversation was all just a blur, a rush of laughs, smiles, and small talk.  
You want to know when I knew? You know what I mean. When I knew when you were the one?  
It was the day you stole my sketchbook. The day I was drawing what would later become our dream house. I knew that day that there was no other girl for me. Don't ask me how. I just did. I thought, wishfully at the time, that you knew it, too.  
The years we spent together after high school seemed to go by so quickly. If I knew then what I know now, I would have cherished you more. I would have told you so many more times that I loved you. I would have said it as many times as possible. I think that you've always known how I felt about you. I just wish I could have told you more.  
I waited to ask you till after college and then after I got a good job with an architectural firm. I had to prepare the means to support you before I could do it. Everyday I had to hold back on asking you. It nearly killed me.   
I remember proposing to you. I was so nervous. The thought of the horrible word 'no' coming from your lips was terrifying. The word 'no' from you would have been as solid as a knife in my heart. I almost passed out when you said 'yes'.  
Our wedding followed soon after. You were so beautiful that day. But you were beautiful everyday. You became more beautiful every day that I knew you.  
And our honeymoon...  
Heh heh...  
Soon after, I started the work on that dream house of ours with the crazy red roof and that window you were so fond of.  
Before I knew it, our first child was on the way. The doctors said it was a health risk for you to be pregnant, but you didn't listen. You wanted so much to be a mother and there was no doubt in my mind that you would be the best mother that any kid could ever hope to have.  
"Nobuyuki, what do you hope the baby will be?"  
"Well, I'm hoping that it'll be human," I joked.  
"Oh, you!" You shoved me playfully. Sometimes, I'd say things like that just to get that little push. "You know what I mean. Do you want a boy or a girl?"  
"I don't know... It doesn't really matter to me so long as it's healthy."  
"Everybody says that, but they don't mean it," you said. "Everybody has a preference one way or the other."  
You were right. It was a lie. I wanted a son just like every other dad, but I would have loved a girl just as much. She would have been just as beautiful as her mother.  
Tenchi wasn't a very patient child. He didn't give his poor old dad enough time to finish the house before he came. We were still living with your father when he was born about a month and a half early.  
Our son.  
He was the proof of our love for each other. I was the proudest father anyone could have ever seen. I strutted around like a peacock when I showed him off at work. I enjoyed so much watching him grow. He got bigger everyday.  
He was almost six months old when the house was finally finished. We didn't have much furniture when we first moved in, but you managed to make it into a home somehow.   
Our home.  
You set up Tenchi's room where I had put in that window for you.  
"It's like you can see the world through that window," you would always say. "Tenchi will really like that when he's older."  
No matter what kind of day I had, the thought of coming home to you was what kept me going. When I was sad, you were sad with me. When I was angry, you were mad as well. When I was excited, you were excited for me.  
You tried to hide it from me.  
You tired to hide how you felt behind that smile.  
As Tenchi grew older and stronger, I could only sit by and watch you become more sick and frail behind that smile of yours. No matter how you felt, you never let anybody know.  
I remember coming home that day to see you collapsed on the floor.  
"I'm fine!" You insisted. "I just got a little dizzy is all."  
I had to practically force you to see a doctor. They didn't know how to diagnose you. They were no help at all. All they said was that you needed to take it easy and get some rest.  
It got so difficult for you to get up in the morning. You hated that. You loved your walks with Tenchi out to your father's shrine. You loved teaching him to swim in the lake and gathering pretty stones and flowers with him. It was torture for you to stay in that bed.  
Your father was around the house a lot more after that. He took care of Tenchi and the house for you. That's when he taught Tenchi how to plant and how to take care of a garden. He was about five then. He also started training him then. He would have started the minute Tenchi could stand on his own if you had let him.  
"Daddy," Tenchi said to me one day, "why is mommy always sleeping? Doesn't she want to play with me anymore?"  
"Of course she does," I said. This was one of those parent/child talk things that were so hard for me. You were so good at it, but I never knew what to say. "Your mommy loves you very much. She's just very sick."  
"When is she going to get better?"  
"She'll be better real soon..." I was trying so hard to convince myself of this.  
Tenchi was quiet in thought for a minute. I could tell his child mind was trying to process all the information. "Did I make mommy sick because I didn't clean my room like she wanted me to?"  
This question really set me back. "No, Tenchi."  
"Then why?"  
"Well... because sometimes people just... get sick..."  
"Like when I had the flu?"  
"Kinda..."  
He was thinking again. "I'll go get mommy some flowers so she'll feel better."  
The next day, it snowed.  
I sat with you while you were in bed. I had taken a day off work to be with you. I stroked your hair and took care of you. Your eyes were still so beautiful, but something was missing. That sparkle of life in them was fading. Your smile was also just as beautiful, but it was weak now.  
"Tenchi's growing up so fast, isn't he?"  
"Yes, he is."  
"You're such a good father. He idolizes you, you know." You were silent for a moment. "It's a shame I won't get to see him grow up." You knew what was happening to you. It wasn't that you had given up. You had just come to accept it.  
I, on the other hand, couldn't accept the fact that my wife was dying in front of me. No matter how bad it got, I wouldn't allow myself to think of loosing you. "Don't say silly things like that, Achika! Of course you will."  
You smiled at me. "We've had a good life together, haven't we, Nobuyuki?"  
"I'd say so."  
"I love you, Nobuyuki."  
"I love you, too, Achika."  
You seemed to use the last of your strength just to smile at me.  
That smile...  
The last time I would see it...  
A part of me died with you that day. I wept for you, quietly and somberly. My heart ached.  
For a while I just sat looking at your face. You looked so peaceful, like the angel you were and always will be.  
I had to be strong now, for you and for Tenchi. I cried not only for you, but for myself as well. I was honestly scared. I was alone now. I now had to raise our son alone. I alone was now responsible for another human life.  
How could I ever manage such a task without you by my side, Achika?  
It took all my courage and strength to tell Tenchi...  
It was the most difficult thing I have ever done in my life.  
How do you tell your five-year-old son that his mother has just passed away? I wondered.  
The look on my face confused him. He didn't understand why I was so sad. I told him as best as I knew how.   
I could see the rush of emotions on his face that flooded out through his eyes in the form of tears.  
I wrapped him up in my arms and held him as tight as I could, trying my best not to break down again. I think that at the time I felt that if I had loosened my grip on him, he might have slipped through my fingers as well.  
But he started to push me away. His confusion frustrated him and made him angry. He didn't understand the situation. I didn't want to let him go, but I did.   
He ran.  
Not from me, but from himself. His mind was too young to take the impact of such news.  
Over time, he started to understand why his mother wasn't with him anymore.  
I wish you could see him now. He reminds me so much of you. He looks at me with your eyes. I've done the best job I could with him. Our little boy Tenchi has become a man. He's shy like his father at that age, but he's got his mother's heart. You'd be proud of him.   
Death wasn't the end for us, Achika. Something like death could never separate you and me. You're always with me. When I've had a bad day, you're still there to cheer me up. I still see your sympathetic face and hear the kind words you always had for me. You rejoice with me when I'm excited and cry with me when things go wrong.  
No matter how I feel or what I'm doing, what gets me through life without you is the knowledge that one day we will be together again. I just can't wait to once again see...that smile. 


End file.
